Immigration Lessons from the Past

As long as there have been immigrants coming to America, there has been an anti-immigrant voice. The same sentiment has pretty much been around since the first non-native set his flag on the coastal seashore and claimed the American continent. Five hundred years later, nothing has changed. What is getting old though is that in today’s modern America, old world restrictions and xenophobic arguments towards new immigrants are still taking primacy over much-need practical reform.

History tells us that from 1820 to 1860, most of the immigrants came from Ireland, and western Germany. During the late 1800’s, the Scandinavian nations provided a substantial minority, and from 1890 to 1910, the majority of the immigrant nationals from Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Russia constituted more than half of the total. Each group faced resistance to their arrivals, and many were beset with hatred, discrimination and prejudicial treatment.

The first group of Jews who arrived in the American colonies in September, 1654 were not wanted, and many were forced to move on to Latin America to make their new home. Many more would come to America as “illegal aliens” until the early 1900’s. Today, it is hard to think of America without the contributions of the Jewish community.

During the 1800s, many Chinese made their decision to leave their homeland for America. But, what they found wasn’t what they expected. They were reviled and discriminated because they were “foreigners” who couldn’t speak English and were seen as taking American jobs with their willingness to work for low wages. Today, it is hard to think of America without the contributions of the Asian community.

Around the 1900’s all major cities had their "Irish Town" or "Shanty Town" where the Irish clung together. Irish immigrant ancestors were not wanted in America. Ads for employment often were followed by "NO IRISH NEED APPLY." Today, it is hard to think of America without the contributions of the Irish community.

Consider the following list of shameful policies of the past that were implemented to keep out prior immigrants from entering the United States based on their race or social class:
§ The first measure restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862 forbidding American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to the US.;
§ In 1882, The Chinese Exclusion Act was approved and prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
§ Gentlemans's Agreement - A diplomatic agreement made in 1907 by the U.S. and Japan provided that the Japanese government would not issue passports to Japanese laborers intending to enter the US.; under the terms of this agreement, the U.S. government refrained until 1924 from enacting laws discriminating Japanese immigrants.
§ In 1917 Congress passed an immigration law that imposed a literacy test and created the Asiatic Barred Zone Act to shut out Asians. Aliens unable to meet minimum mental, moral, physical, and economic standards were excluded, as were other undesirables.
§ Emergency Quota Act - After World War I a marked increase in racism and the growth of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. led to demands for further restrictive legislation. In 1921 a congressional enactment provided for a quota system for immigrants, whereby the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910.
§ McCarren Walter Act - In 1924, the basic immigration quotas were changed; the new law provided for annual immigration quotas for all countries from which aliens might be admitted. Quotas were based on the presumed desirability of various nationalities; aliens from northern and Western Europe were considered more desirable than those from southern and Eastern Europe.

In spite of all these discriminatory policies, we cannot help to marvel at the many immigrants who made their way to America. In the face of so much resistance and indignation, each wave of immigrants proved their detractors wrong and gave much, much more than they ever took to the collective American experience. Each wave of immigrant groups contributed a richness of intellectual talent, specialized skill, and low-skilled labor that made America the strongest and freest Nation on earth. And what can be said of the courageous defense and loss of life on behalf of a grateful Nation by many of the sons and daughters from these otherwise unwanted minority communities in countless battles abroad.

Many of today’s immigrant class continue to enter the United States border illegally, and are despised for their perceived indifference to American language, law, values and traditions. But this ignores the fact that the U.S.-born second generation experiences dramatic increases in English proficiency, educational attainment, and economic earnings. By the third generation most Mexican Americans no longer speak Spanish at all (note: attaining English proficiency is laudable, but the loss of a language is not something we should be celebrating).

The biggest flaw in our immigration system continues to be its lack of a sufficient legal channel for immigrants who are needed to meet the demand for low-skilled labor opportunities. The consistent chatter coming from the nativists ignores the wealth, prosperity and the high quality of life Americans enjoy because of immigration past. They ignore the economic and social benefit of legalizing avenues for temporary workers that will return more often to their originating country if we offer freedom of circularity instead of trapping them within our raised border walls.

Tamar Jacoby writes in a recent article for Foreign Policy “Between 2002 and 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy is expected to create some 56 million new jobs, half of which will require no more than a high school education. More than 75 million baby boomers will retire in that period. And declining native-born fertility rates will be approaching replacement level. Native-born workers, meanwhile, are becoming more educated with every decade. Arguably the most important statistic for anyone seeking to understand the immigration issue is this: in 1960, half of all American men dropped out of high school to look for unskilled work, whereas less than ten percent do so now. Labor-force participation among foreign-born men exceeds that of the native born: the figure for illegal immigrant men is the highest of any group -- 94 percent. And immigrants are less likely than natives to be unemployed… According to estimates, two-thirds of illegal immigrants have income tax withheld from their paychecks, and the Social Security Administration collects some $7 billion a year that goes unclaimed, most of it thought to come from unauthorized workers.”

From periods of economic prosperity and tolerance to times of increased xenophobia and nativism, the U.S. repeatedly has enacted laws and regulations that reflect the prevailing sentiments of the time. Christian America must view immigration as sacred in the history of our families. I for one grow weary of politics trampling on sensible and compassionate immigration policy. Immigration reform has to address a range of economic, humanitarian, social and ethical dimensions, and not get lost in red herring discussions about the impending “loss of culture and values’ or building of scalable walls that will not work. Immigrants are people, not statistics. They are created in the image of God. Immigrants of all races, creeds and legal statuses have all proven throughout history they contribute richly to this blessed country by bringing strong family values and an enviable hard work ethic. We are the envy of the world because of they’re contributions.

500 years after the first immigrants arrived to lay claim on the treasures of the new world, we are still struggling with the immigration issue, by advancing restrictionist policies and classifying the immigrant as less than. I suppose it’s because it is easy to nullify or ignore the contributions of 14 million fellow human beings when they are “illegal” - it infers they shouldn’t really exist. But they do exist, and they very much want to preserve the American way of life, American values, and American democracy - legally.

In these defining times, it is important to remember the lessons and wrongs of the past so that we do not repeat them. I believe that immigration is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, and how we handle the immigrant will be judged by the Good Lord up above.

Daniel Garza is the President/CEO of CONFIA, www.confianow.com